Chapter 27 8.the struggle of the two wings

The dark clouds hanging over our heads are getting thicker and thicker.The information we have proves that before the beginning of September 1941, Hitler's High Command used to attack the Southwestern Front not only the troops originally attacking in the direction of Kyiv, but also heavy troops transferred from the strategic direction of Moscow and the southern wing of the "South" Army Group .Later, it was discovered that the enemy used eight infantry divisions, three tank divisions, and three motorized divisions to carry out assaults on the northern flank of our army, and concentrated twelve infantry divisions, four tank divisions, and three motorized divisions to attack the Kremlin army. The southern flank of our army in the Remenchug area carried out an assault.Moreover, in the Okuninovo-Kremenchug zone, the enemy has twenty infantry divisions, one tank division, and three guard divisions, not counting the battle reserves.

According to the minimum calculation, the strength of Hitler's high command in the strategic direction of Kyiv is more than twice that of the Southwest Front.Considering all the advantages of the enemy's operational disposition and its absolute superiority in tanks and aviation, it becomes clear how incredibly difficult conditions we are in. At this point, the intentions of Hitler's high command have become more and more obvious.Its attempt is to use a powerful group to carry out an assault on the outer flank, and to move forward to the deep rear of the basic forces of our front army in order to encircle it.As the reader already knows, the situation in the north is most worrying.Just as the armies on the southern wing of the Bryansk Front were trying to destroy the powerful screen team left by Guderian, the main force of Guderian's tank army launched a fierce attack on the small 40th Army that I had just formed.Our troops fought valiantly to hold the enemy tanks between the Seim and Desna rivers north of Konotop and Bakhmach.The head of the front army sent all his reserves here, but they still couldn't stop the enemy.The 40th Army fought hard while slowly retreating southward.

The chief of our army naturally focused his attention on the warfare on this wing of the front army.Although there are indications that the Hitlerites also want to take action in the south, we are less worried about our left wing, thinking that our troops will be able to repel the enemy more easily here, because the battle line is after all along the Dnieper River. Yes, the fascists will not be able to overcome this water barrier so easily.Moreover, we expect that if Guderian's tanks can be blocked in the north, then the enemy's attack in the south will not achieve its goal.The divisions of the 26th and 38th armies scattered across the wide front continued to defend south of Kyiv.They have thwarted all the enemy's attempts to forcefully cross the Dnieper in August, and our army chiefs have reason to rely on their steadfastness.

Recently succeeded Lieutenant General J. A. Ryabyshev as the 38th Army Major General H.B. Feklenko, the commander, reported that the German 17th Army had crossed to the left bank in the Derryevka area southeast of Kremenchug and seized a small landing field.The front commander and headquarters took this report with equanimity even after receiving it.Kirponos ordered the commander of the army to clear the landing field with resolute action, promised to support him with reserves, and then devoted all his energy to commanding the actions of the northern flank of the army as before.Things went from bad to worse in the North Wing.The danger threatened not only the 40th Army but also the 5th Army.The 15th and 31st Infantry Corps of the 5th Army have advanced far to the northwest, and their horseshoe-shaped front has passed north of Chernigov, leaning on the Dnieper River near Liubech, and then extending along the river bank to Soroko Strangely, both of these armies are already under the threat of being encircled.The earliest signs of being encircled appeared as early as early September, when the German 2nd Army forcibly crossed the Desna River southeast of Chernihiv and seized a landing field in the Wibli area.At the same time, the divisions of the German Sixth Army also stepped up their onslaught from the troublesome Okuninovo landing field, and broke into the Maxim village area where there is a Desna River ferry before September 5.If the fascists could have forcibly crossed the Desna River here, they would have been able to join up with the troops that turned around Chernihiv from the east. In this way, the main force of our 5th Army would have been cut off from the rest of the Front Army contact.The commanders and fighters of the 228th Infantry Division under the command of Colonel Viktor Georgievich Chernov, through great efforts, broke the enemy's attempt to cross the river.Sadly this doesn't remove the threat.The fascists may also advance along the west bank of the Desna River towards Chernihiv, cutting off the retreat of the divisions of the 31st Rifle Corps.

The enemy is guarding the landing field in the Wimbley area.The German troops hid in solid fortifications here to hide.And we don't have enough power to drive them away.The multiple counterattacks carried out by the two battalions of the 62nd Infantry Division and the 204th Airborne Brigade detachment transferred here have no results.Enemy aviation units haunt the battlefield, preventing our soldiers from raising their heads.General Potapov ordered the commander of the 15th Rifle Corps to drive the enemy across the Desna River at all costs. Colonel M.A. Blank personally led the attack.The teams suffered heavy casualties, and Blanc also died, but the landing field was not cleared.

It was now necessary to withdraw the 5th Army across the Desna and to improve its operational situation by compressing the front and freeing up reserves.But General Ponopov was only allowed to straighten the defenses of the 31st Infantry Corps a little.This measure did not actually change the posture of the Army Group. After correctly judging the situation, the commander-in-chief of the Southwest Front reported to the base camp on September 4 that the enemy had formed an encirclement situation on both wings of the Southwest Front Army and was in danger of breaking into the deep rear of the Front Army.Therefore, C. M. Budyonny requested to allocate the necessary reserves for the front army.If the base camp does not have these reserves, then please allow two divisions to be drawn from the Kyiv fortification area and the 26th Army.The chief of the general staff notified on the same day that the supreme commander had no objection to such a change in the deployment of troops in the front army.

We at the Front Command knew that these measures were far from sufficient.The scale of the engagement was getting bigger and bigger, and it absorbed water like a sponge, and immediately swallowed up our small reserve formed by weakening the troops in the temporarily unaffected areas.And the enemy may attack my weakest point of defense at any time. The Supreme Command has done everything in its power to help us.As I have already said, the resolute measures it took were: the merger of the Central Front and the Bryansk Front under the command of General Yeremenko; the transfer of the headquarters reserve to him and the sole task of crushing Guderian's army .To this end, the 40th Army was hastily assembled, which was supposed to improve the situation at the junction of the two fronts.But the strength of the base camp is also limited.

The commander-in-chief of the southwest direction closely watched the battle of our front army, and he saw the danger hidden in the enemy's landing site southeast of Kremenchug in time. On September 4, C. M. Budyonny spoke with Kilponos. "Delay in clearing the landing site near Derryevka is tantamount to death." The marshal said that he insisted on driving the Hitlerites back from the left bank of the Dnieper River, and suggested that the front send several responsible representatives to help the commander of the army group. Feklenko. Kirponos ordered me to send Chief of Artillery M. A. Parshegov, Chief of Armored Tanks B. T. Volsky and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force Command B. M. Lozovoi-Shevchen Co called to him.

"They're going to Fekrenko's," he explained. "You, too, are ready to go with them." Luckily everyone was there.We gathered in the commander's office.Kirponos, Burmistenko, Lykov, and Tupikov were there.Kirponos said that the Military Council entrusted us to help the head of the 38th Army clear the enemy's Kremenchug landing site. "We really can't let Priluki pay due attention to this very important battle from here. You have to analyze the situation on the spot and try your best to complete the task. As for the progress of the battle, you have to report to the commander of the front army regularly report to the Ministry, and report directly to the Commander-in-Chief.”

"Comrades," added M. A. Burmistenko, "I ask you to take care that all commanders, fighters and political workers of the Army Group understand deeply how important the task before them is. If the enemy If we can break through from there and form a confrontation with Guderian's army, our entire front army will be in danger of imminent disaster." When we parted, the commander of the front army said to me: "Comrade Baghramyan, you are responsible for organizing this work and for keeping it informed. We will be waiting for your first report by the end of tomorrow."

We depart at different times.It is about 180 kilometers from the Front Army Command to Kozelishna, where the 38th Army Command Post is located.But I walked almost a day by car.Long periods of rain and not clear make the dirt road muddy, and the car happens to drive on the dirt road most of the time.It was with great difficulty that I found Army Group headquarters, as we had camouflaged their locations as closely as possible to protect them from air assaults. General Nikolai Feladimirovich Fekrenko received me cordially.We are old acquaintances.Back in the thirties we had worked together in the 5th Cavalry Division: I was division chief of staff, he was commander of the mechanized regiment.Nikolai Vladimirovich at that time had a lot of prestige for his conscientiousness, directness and decisiveness.For the excellent training of his regiment, he was awarded the Order of Lenin. In 1940 Fekrenko was appointed commander of the tank division, and in early 1941 he was appointed commander of the 19th Mechanized Army.Nikolai Vladimirovich was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his outstanding fighting in the first weeks of the war.A week before our meeting, he had been appointed commander of the 38th Army on the recommendation of General Kirponos. Feklenko was an honest and straightforward man, and he immediately admitted that he had been tricked by the enemy this time.The Germans managed to create this impression with a massive landing on Krolevets Island near Cherkazyn before seizing the landing site on the eastern bank of the Dnieper between the Pusol and Volskra Rivers : It seems that they are preparing to cross the Dnieper River here, and use the island as a springboard for troops.As a result, a significant portion of the Army Group's strength (three of the seven divisions) was drawn into this area.The rest of the corps occupied the defense on the broad front.In the following days, Feklenko transferred his only reserve division to the vicinity of Cherkasy.The enemy took advantage of this miscalculation.It chose the weakest point, the bank of the Dnieper between the Pusol and Volskra rivers, as the site of the assault, where only one infantry division was defending the 54-kilometer-wide front.In the forced crossing section, our side has only one infantry regiment in total.The enemy has invested nearly two infantry divisions in the first echelon alone.General Fekrenko did not have any reserves nearby.During the first two days, only some units of the 300th Rifle Division deployed here and detachments of Colonel A. A. Grechko's 34th Cavalry Division, which arrived from the south-west and was transferred from the Commander-in-Chief's Reserve to the Army Group, were able to Resist the enemy across the Dnieper.Colonel E. A. Kuznetsov, commander of the 300th Infantry Division, attempted to maneuver his troops and bring in something from other areas.However, this is almost impossible when he has to defend a wide front.The enemy took advantage of its several times superiority in numbers, air supremacy and artillery superiority to repel our troops from the river bank.When the 5th Cavalry Army and the 304th Infantry Division sent by the reserve arrived here, the enemy troops who had crossed over had already established themselves on the captured landing field.Before we came here, the enemy already had about five divisions on the left bank of the Dnieper.Our army confronted with it had only two infantry divisions and a cavalry corps. This army suffered great losses due to the fascist aviation assault on the road.It was clear that the enemy landing field could not be cleared with these forces.New troops, tanks and artillery with adequate ammunition reserves had to be brought in.I immediately reported my initial impressions to General Tupikov by telephone and asked him to expedite the reinforcement of the 38th Army with the necessary reinforcements promised by the Commander-in-Chief. -------- ①The later Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union (1967-1976). ——Translator's Note. In the evening, our whole group got together.I briefly briefed my comrades on the situation and my conversation with Tupikov, and suggested that we split up and go to the troops.I went to the 304th Infantry Division.The staff officer of the Group Army Operations Department who accompanied me seemed to be very familiar with the road. He did not look at the map and led the way with confidence.On the way, enemy fighter planes swooped down on us several times, but luckily everything went smoothly.The guide pointed us to a mound above the ground: the division commander's observation post is located there.When we were still far from the mound, the fascist artillery began to fire.The mound was hidden in a cloud of smoke, and there seemed to be nothing on it.We took advantage of the terrain so that the enemy could not see us, drove close to the mound, and saw soldiers carrying a seriously injured colonel down on a stretcher.This is the division artillery chief. The fighters who cleared the road obstacles pointed out the direction to go.After a while, I went down to a deep trench.There were several officers here, and with them a burly and imposing general.After I said my name, I heard him answer: "Master General Pukhov." Who could have imagined at the time that this gentle, slow-moving man would become a true hero, and that the 13th Army he would later command would become famous for his bravery at the Battle of Kursk... Incidentally, I was convinced from the first months of the war that the true quality of a commander can only be seen in battle.Combat is the toughest examiner, it can determine who can do what.Here, amidst the flames of war and a series of trials, some brave and intelligent commanders who are able to lead and teach people to win in the most complicated situations will immediately stand out.It is not uncommon to meet among them persons who, in ordinary times, do not stand out in any way because of their character and other personal qualities, and who are regarded as the most mediocre officers.But in the war, their advantages: talent, military intelligence, bravery, strong will, etc., are suddenly clearly displayed.Nikolai Pavlovich Pukhov was such a man. Sometimes it happens that people who appear learned and well-organized in peaceful times suddenly become less effective and helpless in the heat of combat, and their indecision or nervousness is often a bad thing. Of course, this is not at all to say that the usual authority cannot be trusted.In normal times, too, life usually pushes the ablest and most deserving of the people to the forefront. Still, I think that if a surgeon's intelligence is fully revealed at the operating table, a military chief's intelligence is fully revealed only in war.War will measure the true worth of a general.In my opinion, the fate of Suvorov is the most typical example of this.How inconspicuous his military genius was, and how conspicuous his "eccentricities" were in peacetime!Compared with many of his high-flying colleagues, he is just a hardworking old soldier.And when the battle-horn sounded and the canister-shot whistled, what a radiance of his commanding genius shone! ... ... I asked Pukhov how the battle was going.No answer was heard right away.The general took out his handkerchief, wiped the dusty sweat off his face, and said: "It's not good. We have advanced one or two kilometers in three days. We charge once, and the enemy will crazily counterattack several times. They will not stop until we are pushed back again. The air force is crushing us. Moreover, the German artillery It's been fought hard, you see, it's driven us into a hollow... just see what's going on." The general climbed the ladder up the parapet of the bunker and handed me the binoculars.Our artillery was firing from various directions behind many small heights.You can see the continuous explosion of shells in a fan shape on the front line.Smoke and dust obscured the horizon.A series of explosions continued forward.The enemy did not return fire.It's just that a few planes appeared at low altitude on the other side of the Dnieper River, circling over the heads of my artillery company.Several anti-aircraft guns and several quadruple anti-aircraft machine guns fired.The teacher explained as if apologizing: "That's all we have against aviation." The artillerymen continued to fire despite the bombardment.But the shooting has weakened significantly: it seems that it is impossible to avoid losses. "Look, our people have made an impact." Pukhov said, pointing to the north slope of the small plateau ahead. Many small gray figures were ascending the hillside.The roar of the artillery became stronger, and the firing of machine guns and rifles was heard.The front line of skirmishers had reached the ridgeline of the high ground and passed over it.The rear row followed the front row and rushed away.Suddenly, the whole high ground disappeared in a gray-brown smoke of enemy bombs, mortar shells, and artillery shells.After a while, about 20 tanks appeared on the ridgeline and slowly drove towards the high ground.While shooting back, the soldiers retreated by leaping forward under the cover of their own artillery. "I don't have a single tank," said the division commander. "That's how almost every impact we've had has ended." Yes, obviously nothing can be done here without tanks, strong artillery and aviation.There is no point in attacking under these conditions. I called the army commander and asked him to allow the division commander to refrain from further assaults until reinforcements arrived.Now temporarily let this division stand firm in the area where it arrives, reorganize the troops, and organize the forward delivery of ammunition.Feklenko agreed. The fighting ceased.Pukhov called the heads of the regiments.The general talked to his subordinates calmly, earnestly, and without any excitement.When he set new tasks for them, he asked each regiment leader to understand the situation and deeply understand the status and role of the regiment after the division was transferred to defense. Soon I returned to the command post of the group army and discussed with other representatives of the chief of the front army who had been to many areas.They agree with me.We suggested that General Fekrenko suspend the attack across the board and report the whole situation to C.M. Budyonny and M.E. Kirponos. Commander-in-Chief Xiang Xiang realized that it would be useless to continue to use such a small force to attack, so he ordered to stop the attack, and at the same time ordered to use not only the strength of the group army, but also all the reserves assigned to him to prepare for a new counter-attack.The counterattack is scheduled to begin on the morning of September 8.The 38th Army participated in the counter assault with the 34th Cavalry Division of the 5th Cavalry Army and four infantry divisions.The commander-in-chief allocated three tank brigades, just formed, and several aviation regiments from his reserves. The task is daunting.This is not just because the enemy has more troops than the head of our army can concentrate.It took only a little more than a day and night to prepare for the counterattack, and the tank brigades and anti-aircraft artillery units began to arrive in the Poltava area.At the same time, the entire work of drawing up the preparation plan for the counter-assault was undertaken by a small group of officers in the Operations Department of the Army Headquarters headed by Colonel M. A. Potapov. On the night of September 6, a battle order was issued to the army.The commander of the group army is determined to implement two assaults in the centripetal direction.One assault was carried out with four infantry divisions along the left bank of Pusol towards Koleberda; the other assault (on the left flank of the army group Prubai, in front of Ozerey) was carried out on the flank and rear of the enemy occupying the landing field, and at the same time advanced the enemy Each ferry.The 5th Cavalry Corps reinforced the 3rd and 142nd Tank Brigades and the 47th Tank Division (which had about thirty combat vehicles in total) to undertake this task. The basis for the commander of the group army to make this determination is that there is very little time to prepare for a counter-assault, and it is not enough to change the deployment of troops on a large scale.The assault direction chosen by Fekrenko only required the troops to move at a minimum, which is very important when time is extremely short.The idea made sense, so we agreed with the commander's determination. However, even without a large-scale change in the deployment of the army, the group army cannot complete the shock preparation within the specified time limit.Those newly incorporated corps and units into the army, despite the forced march, still had no time to enter their respective starting areas.The commander of the front army had to postpone the attack time. While we were preparing for a counterattack on the left flank of the army group, the enemy forcibly crossed the Dnieper River south of Kremenchug.German units supported the infantry divisions crossing the river from the previously captured landing grounds.And our defense of Kremenchug is only one regiment of the 297th Infantry Division.The power disparity is too great.The city fell into enemy hands.After the enemy crossed another infantry division, they attempted to attack northward. Colonel B. A. Afanasyev's 297th Infantry Division launched a tenacious counterattack and stopped the enemy north of Kremenchug. Having received a report on September 9 that the enemy's advance had been reliably stopped in this area, Feklenko turned his full attention to preparing a counterattack on the left flank of his army.Nor did the chief of the front expect serious danger coming from the direction of Kremenchug.After they got information from the reconnaissance department about the discovery of the reconnaissance battalion of the 9th Division of the enemy tanks in the Derryevka landing site area, they speculated that the main force of General Kleist's tank group would also come here.My 38th Army Shock Group will fight them here.However, as we will see later, the enemy's plans are quite different... While we were preparing for the counter-assault of the 38th Army, we also continued to pay close attention to the development of the battle on the northern wing of our front.Each of us understands that now it is there that the outcome of the fighting in the direction of Kyiv will be decided.Can the 40th Army hold on to Guderian's tank waves? We were at Fekrenko's headquarters, and of course we could not imagine all the details of the fighting in that area.The following details are what I learned from their narratives when I talked with the Chief of Staff of the Front, General Tupikov, and my Deputy Colonel, Colonel Zakhvataev, after returning to the Front headquarters.Existing documents also helped me recall many details. Here's what happened to our North Wing during that time. In early September, the 40th Army continued to offer the most tenacious resistance to Guderian's army.With the strong support of aviation, the enemy has an immeasurable advantage in tanks, artillery and troop mobility.Our troops held back enemy tanks and motorized divisions for two weeks between the Desna and Seim rivers. After the war, Guderian was ashamed to admit that the considerable strength of his tank group was pinned down by a division of the Soviet Army in early September 1941. This division was the independent tank of General C.A. Semenchenko, Hero of the Soviet Union. Colonel E. O. Ragugin's 293rd Infantry Division supported by dozens of tanks from the 10th Division.The fascist general insisted that one infantry division of ours was divided into four, and everyone knows that the entire 40th Army did not have that many troops at that time. Hitler's high command did not expect such tenacious resistance from the Soviet army at all, so it panicked.Admiral Halder by no means evaluated Guderian's results in an optimistic tone in those days.He wrote in his diary: "During the attack of the 2nd Tank Army across the Desna River, the left flank was so entangled with the enemy that even the southward attack was stopped. The Army was even forced to abandon Some of the land that has been seized." The initial results of the 40th Army made General Kirponos so hopeful that he decided to transfer one of the Army's divisions, the 135th Infantry Division of General O. H. Smekhotvorov, to the rescue of the 5th Army. —The position of the army is getting worse as the enemy is already deeply wedged in the direction of Chernigov and Auster.The enemy tried to divide the troops of the 5th Army and, after encircling them, moved forward to the rear of our 37th Army, which was defending Kyiv directly.Since we had left the headquarters of the Front at that time, we could not understand why Kirponos was so slow in withdrawing to Potapov's corps.Later I learned that the base camp firmly forbids this.It seems that Moscow also hoped that the Bryansk Front's offensive would eventually drive the enemy away from the Desna River. On September 7, the commander of the Southwest Front Army was forced to send a special report to the base camp, saying that there could be no further delay.The Chief of General Staff consulted Marshal Budyonny.Budyonny firmly supported the application of the head of the front army. On September 9, Marshal Shaposhnikov finally notified: "The supreme commander approved the withdrawal of the right wing of the 5th Army and the 37th Army to the Desna River." But before that, the fascist troops were already on both sides of the Desna River. Consolidate.Potapov's corps were attacked from the front and back: the German 6th Army from the front, and the 2nd Tank Group from the rear, storming them respectively. By the morning of September 10th, Guderian's tanks had also launched a strike against the 40th Army. Assault.They attack in tight quarters.These steel rams hit a point with full force.General Podlas reported the situation to the Front Army Command and asked for support.But there is not even a single division in the reserve team of the front army. The 40th Army held on desperately and did not retreat.The fascist tanks only opened a way for themselves between Baturin and Konotop, and our army has not even a single soldier here.The 10th Tank Division fought bravely.In the section of the 10th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the division, when the 17 fascist tanks and armored transport vehicles rushed to the rest of Lieutenant Petrov's company, the nine soldiers who were still alive under the leadership of their company commander never retreated.They engaged enemy vehicles with grenades and Molotov cocktails.People saw the process of this battle from the positions of the Friends of the Neighborhood Company.Almost all the heroes were killed, but their death cost the Fascists dearly: nine shock tanks and armored cars were destroyed. Guderian paved the road with the corpses of his own soldiers, illuminated the road with the flames of tanks, and rushed towards Romney, which is located in the far rear of our front army.We no longer have the strength to stop the enemy armored columns. At the end of September 10, the advance unit of General Model's 3rd German Tank Division joined the paratroopers parachuted in Romney.The front of my 40th Army was divided into two parts: the 2nd Airborne Army retreated to the area of ​​​​the friendly 21st Army, while the rest of the forces held Konotop, connecting its intermittent fronts to the south. Although the enemy tanks suddenly rushed into Romne, the professional soldiers and the logistics organization squad that stayed in the city did not lay down their weapons.These units organize base point or ring defenses and fight to the end.Even Guderian had to admit this fact.He wrote that when he came to the city occupied by his 3rd Tank Division, "it was only accessible by armored cars." The comrades and I who stayed in the 38th Army these days know very little about the situation of Guderian's divisions breaking into the deep rear of our front army.We are busy with our own business.On the day when Guderian's tanks rushed from Konotop to Romne, on the southern flank where the author of this book is located, the 38th Army Assault Group launched an assault in the morning after aviation fire preparations and artillery preparations.It is a pity that our aviation and artillery were obviously insufficient, so we were unable to suppress the enemy's firepower system.The attacking divisions were met with very heavy fire and heavy counterattacks, but none of this stopped them.The divisions continued to attack.The exciting thing was General O. B. Kamkov's 5th Cavalry Corps, attacking on the extreme left, slowly but tenaciously driving the enemy to the Dnieper.The most successful day was the troops of the 34th Cavalry Division of Colonel A. A. Grechko. We were eager to clear the enemy's landing field, knowing that this would improve the situation of the entire front, because at that time the Guderian tank group's assault would not pose such a great danger because it could not receive support from the south.It is a pity that the 38th Army's assault group had to resist the continuous counterattack of the fascist army, and suffered heavy casualties due to attacks by enemy aviation, so the progress was getting slower and slower.The onslaught must be intensified to the max.All the representatives of the chief of the front went to the attacking army. On the morning of September 12, I arrived at the Pukhov Division again.It was difficult to get to his command post: the enemy aviation did not give us any possibility of driving along the open land without forest.Had to leave the car in the shelter.More than once we lay down in a crater.Because the German artillery was combing the whole ground. This time I met Pukhov like an old acquaintance.He was in an extremely optimistic mood, even though his troops were making little progress. "If the Fascists had been bombed hard enough," said the general, "they would have gone down the river." According to my suggestion, Feklenko allocated several attack aircraft brigades to support the 300th and 304th infantry divisions under the escort of fighter aircraft.This somewhat helps.Pukhov's troops advanced again. Our army did not stop its tenacious attack on the rest of the enemy's landing site.We have not been disappointed in driving the enemy down the Dnieper. In the afternoon, General Feklenko called and asked me to hurry back to his command post.I have heard unpleasant news here.While we were trying to clear the landing field near Derryevka, General Kleist had his tank and motorized divisions smuggled into the Kremenchug area. On the morning of September 12, these divisions stormed a regiment of the 297th Infantry Division, split the front of the division, and rushed north in the general direction of Horol.We have very few troops in its offensive zone.Of course, it is not difficult to guess that Kleist is going to confront Guderian, and the latter's advance troops have already advanced far south of Romney at this time. It was not difficult to guess that the Kleist tank group would advance to meet Guderian's army.But we believed that the enemy would drop his tanks from that large landing field between the Pusol and Volskra rivers, which the Fascists were so persistently expanding for this purpose and Then build the pontoon bridge.This view is further confirmed by the fact that it was here on September 10 that the Kleist group was taken prisoner. All in all, we failed to detect Kleist's concentration of tanks in the Kremenchug area in time, so it was impossible to determine the location of the tank assault.This was of course a big mistake.Now, of the four tank clusters owned by the German army on the entire Soviet-German battlefield, two have swooped in behind the main force of our front. Today, when the truth of what happened in those days is known, one cannot help but think: Even if our scouts had helped us spot where the Kleist tank group was attacking, we might not have been able to prevent its breakthrough.The overall advantage of the enemy's forces and weapons is too great.You must know that before the first group of German tanks (four tank divisions and three motorized divisions) arrived here, the fascists had already concentrated about twenty divisions on the southern flank of our front.And all this was used against the five infantry divisions and four cavalry divisions of the 38th Army.The enemy's infantry and artillery are almost twice as large as our army, and the aviation, especially tanks, are many times larger. It should be said that the situation in our left neighborhood is conducive to the fascists concentrating their forces in this way.The southern front had been crushed to the mouth of the Dnieper River before this.Because of the cover of this wide water barrier, the leader of the "South" Army Group left only a small screen team there, and gathered most of the troops of the 17th Field Army and the 1st Tank Group into a powerful force. The assault group is used to carry out assaults from the south and advance against Guderian's various corps. The honor of the 38th Army is that under such difficult conditions, it launched a due counterattack against the enemy on the landing field between the Pusol and Volskra Rivers, forcing the enemy to abandon the direction that is most beneficial to it. The intention to carry out the attack.General Feklenko's troops counterattacked there with extraordinary tenacity and violence, forcing the enemy to find another breakthrough area and transfer their forces there. I saw Fekrenko lost in thought. "What is to be done, Ivan Khristoforovitch?" he asked. "Continue to attack or not?" I replied that, in my opinion, there is no point in countering the assault now, the main thing at present is to eliminate at any cost the breach that would expose our entire front to the enemy's assault. "But what do you use to eliminate it?" the general said distressedly. "My reserve team still has an infantry regiment. Even if we can draw most of the troops from the assault group, there is no time to transfer them to the breakthrough area. Can we catch up with Kleist now!" "It's no use chasing Kleist." I agreed. "However, if we can close the gap with an assault from both flanks, then the supply lines of his tank and motorized divisions will be cut off, and the front commander will be able to deal more easily with the advancing enemy fast regiments." Looking back, I should admit that my optimism was unfounded under the circumstances, because, as it turned out later, the commander of the Southwestern Front could only send two infantry divisions from the 26th Army to deal with the intruders. Two tank armies in the far rear. General Feklenko understood that there was no other way out under the circumstances at that time, so he asked the commander-in-chief for permission to stop the attack on the left flank of the army group, and transferred some troops from there to be incorporated into the reserve team to restore the broken front and block the enemy's possible attack. Attack by Poltava.Marshal Budyonny immediately approved, and at the same time he ordered the army commander to immediately transfer all tank brigades organized into the 38th Army to the breakthrough area. 傍晚已经彻底察明，费克连科集团军三个右翼师在集团军司令部率领下，已被割断同主力的联系，正与德军第17集团军从东南面猛攻它们的强大集团进行艰苦战斗。总司令部得知此情后，知道分布在一百四十公里正面的第38集团军从此将实际上在两个离心战役方向实施战斗行动了：一个是克列缅丘格、罗莫丹方向，一个是科列别尔达、波尔塔瓦方向。 现在我们再回头说说方面军北翼的战事。第5集团军得到向杰斯纳河对岸退却的为时太晚的许可后，只好一边苦战一边为自己打开一条冲击敌军合围圈的道路。敌人对他们进行跟踪追击，从四面八方进行不间断的冲击。在这极端困难的情况中，步兵第15、13军指战员表现了不屈不挠的意志。他们虽然遭到不间断的轰炸和扫射，但仍顽强冲到杰斯纳河。 法西斯军队曾两次合围E·A·巴拉巴诺夫上校的步兵第215师①第711团，但指战员们以坚决的冲击打开了一条道路。A·C·别列斯托夫上校的步兵第193师各部队在激烈的搏斗中仅两天就消灭七百名法西斯分子。 -------- ①原是摩托化师。所有摩托化步兵师和摩托化师从8月22日起均改编为步兵师。 第5集团军各师都没有后方，因为到处都是前方。当德军步兵和坦克在我步兵第200师穿越战斗队形打到师司令部时，参谋人员、通信兵、警卫战士都迎着他们扑上去。师长A·E·科乐帕切夫少校亲自指挥战斗。许多人在力量悬殊的搏斗中牺牲了，但敌人伤亡也很大。还有三辆坦克在继续前进。这时，红军战士库拉科夫、奥西波夫和谢尔盖耶夫冲上去挡住它们的去路。他们在十至十五米距离外向敌坦克投燃烧瓶。司令部转危为安。 可以想象，当指战员们冲到杰斯纳河却发现河岸已被法西斯分子抢占时，心里是什么滋味。由步兵第195师师长B·H·涅斯梅洛夫将军统一指挥的步兵第31军第193、195、215师，就陷入了那种境地。它们受到前后夹击，无论到哪里都找不到出路。于是决定以一部兵力阻住从西面冲击的敌军，以另一部兵力一边战斗一边强渡杰斯纳河。没有渡河器材，只好把火炮和汽车毁掉。该军只有步兵第200师未遭法西斯分子截击。师长不仅摆脱了追击，而且先敌到达杰斯纳河，保住了全部炮兵和后勤。步兵第15军和第45、62师在切尔尼戈夫以南进至杰斯纳河。这里的河岸也已落入希特勒分子手里。军长C·C·莫斯卡连科少将（接替牺牲的布兰克）巧妙组织了冲击。我军各部队一齐猛攻，击溃了敌人，突出了合围圈。 经过这些极为紧张的战斗，第5集团军遭到很大损失，但终于在9月11日突出重围。 在方面军右翼部队打开突围道路时，第37集团军各右翼兵团也在打破敌军强大集团从东北面迂回基辅的企图。它们的顽强防御使第5集团军的处境有所改善。